


Home

by ourladyofmumbles



Category: The Expanse (TV)
Genre: F/M, Season/Series 02 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-18 23:57:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11301486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ourladyofmumbles/pseuds/ourladyofmumbles
Summary: Julie was the first sacrifice, but not the last. Some are taken, some are willing, all are looking for a place to call home.





	Home

**Author's Note:**

> This was written after, and contains spoilers for, season 2 episodes 4 and 5 of The Expanse.

_You can’t take the Razorback._

I never even met him, keng?

When does da get home?

I can’t believe I have to work another double-shift…

_You can’t take the Razorback._

We stick together, mali beratna.

I’m not paying for this ji-ral! We won’t make it past the docks!

_You can’t take the Razorback._

Bist bien, coyo?

_You can’t take the Razorback._

_You can’t take the Razorback._

She was eighteen, on the docks, surrounded by people screaming. The excitement was electric. She was grinning from ear to ear.

She was twelve, running through the crowded halls packed to the brim with tourists. Her hand darted out to snatch a chip hanging out of a drunk man’s pocket.

She was forty, looking at her son’s lifeless body on the morgue’s slab, pressing the button to mulch him knowing the cops would never catch his killer. They never did…

_Wait, that’s not right…_

She was ten and throwing rocks across the pond, showing Clarissa how to flick her wrist to make them skip across the mirror-smooth pond.

She was seventeen and breaking up with her girlfriend. She was screaming things she knew she could never take back as her own heart broke.

She was twenty-five and welding a seam on an old water tanker. Her breathing was the only sound in space.

She was five, she was twenty, she was fifty-eight. She was him, she was them, she was everyone. She was happy, she was terrified, she was alone, she was loved. She was ash and bone and endless looping thoughts. She was singing.

_You can’t take the Razorback._

_You can’t take the Razorback._

_It was the last time I was free_

_It was the last time I mattered_

_You can’t take the Razorback._

_It’s mine. It's ours. We need it to go back. We need it to find home_

_You can’t you can’t you can’t_

“Julie…”

His voice was different from the rest. His voice wasn’t a part of her soul the way the others were.

“Julie I need you to listen to me…”

He had a voice. He was speaking. He was familiar and a stranger. She couldn’t find him within her. Where could he be?

“Julie please”

She felt something cold and smooth press into her hand. She had hands. She had eyes. She opened them.

“Hey.”

His voice was quiet and sad. The world was glowing blue but he was dark, alone. He was pressing something into the hand she had forgotten. It was a necklace. Clarissa’s necklace. She was sixteen again and crying on the dock in the arms of her little sister…

“Julie I need you to stay with me.”

_I left her. I left them. I swore I’d never go back._

“Julie, you need to stop.”

She couldn’t. They had to keep moving. They had to move faster. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t hear. He was not Them. He must be so sad… she found her mouth, her lips, her tongue.

“We can’t” her voice was so small in the dissonance of song that surrounded her, but he heard. He smiled; it was not happy.

“Yes, you can. I know you can. Listen to my voice, Julie, you need to turn back.”

_No. Not back. Never back._

“We can’t. He’s going to sell the Razorback.”

“Julie, you don’t need the Razorback. You need to turn around. You need to go to Venus.” His eyes were pleading. His voice was broken. A broken man with her sister’s necklace. So alone. So beautiful. The voices took up the call: a heading, a home. Venus

_Venus venus venus venus venus venus venus venus_

“That’s it, Julie. Venus.” He knelt beside her, his breathing ragged through his suit. He was so far. He was so far but right there. They needed him. She needed him.

“You. Belong…” Her voice was fading as the song grew louder. They clamored for him, demanding him. He smiled again and nodded, popping the seals of his suit.

“I belong with you.”


End file.
